I am now at Highland Cathedral and am aware I need, to a certain extent, hit the ground running. Though full-time, rather than part-time as Eagleside was, it's only 10 weeks, so a totally different dynamic.
It's early days, but it's a friendly congregation, with many people involved in the running of the church and the outreach program they are involved in. It was good to have sincere welcome yesterday, with many leaving the church yesterday specifically welcoming me to Highland Cathedral.
Today my supervisor, who has a much, much different approach to my past one was asking what I ordination is. Well, I sort of mentioned something about a setting apart, but also there being some sort of mystery, but to be honest, I didn't really know. So, what is ordination for - what does that do to the person being ordained that hasn't already been done? Or it is a symbol of a recognition of the gifts and calling they already have. I was thinking of scripture and realised when people were called by God, they were generally sent to get on with it, with no ordination taking place, though priest were (among others) anointed.
It's got me thinking and I'm glad of that. It's not something which has come up before and I know it's important I develop my understanding of what it is. That said, I was brought up with the whole thing that ministers are no different from anyone else and all Christians have their own unique calling from God and ministry is just one of many, many of them.
So, what do others think? It would be interesting to get some ideas to begin developing my own thoughts.
Ordination marks one of those weird dilemmas for the CofS. In form and function it is supremely sacramental, and yet, because it is not a dominical command, then it it not considered a sacrament.
ReplyDeleteThe 'ceremony' of it does draw from parts of the NT where the 'commissioning' of leaders was accompanied by the laying on of hands. Interestingly, a function which the CofS reserves for ordained leaders. Who says the ordained aren't 'different'?
And that leads to another of your questions. I would probably take issue with the assertion that ministers are 'no different'. I think the specific call to ordained ministry does mark ministers as 'different'. And I would even go so far as to express that in ontological terms. I would argue that the moment of call (or at least responding to it) marks a 'change' in the person. And I would perhaps further argue that that change is effected by the work of the Spirit. Someone said to me just the other day that the Spiritual gifts can 'come and go', and we don't necessarily always have them - only those we need for a time, a place, and a purpose. I suspect there is something in this, and that the particular call to ordained ministry marks one such 'anointing'.
What I would also argue is that the actual ordination is not the point at which one is a minister, but rather marks the church's affirmation of that call.
I also acknowledge that such a view is not wholly in alignment with the Reformed practices of the CofS, but that probably explains why I called their understanding of ordination into question (diplomatically) in my MTh work.
A connection through the laying on of hands from Jesus through the apostles and a continual line down to little old you. One long succession that puts you right at the centre of Christ's ministry.
ReplyDeleteA couple of things as some starters for ten... thinking along the lines of 'Why ordination - what's it for?' if you like :)
ReplyDelete1.Governance of the Church:
•‘order’ – ‘ordination’: to help maintain good order in the church - pastor/ minister acts as a type of safeguard – doing the work of the Church decently and through maintaining good order; Calvin says: ‘for neither the light and heat of the sun, nor food and drink, are so necessary to nourish and sustain the present life as the apostolic and pastoral office is necessary to preserve the church on earth.’ [Calvin, Inst. IV. 3. 2]
•Delegation: while Christ is indeed head of the Church, and therefore has authority over it, he does not now ‘dwell among us in visible form [Matt. 26: 11]’ and uses the ministry of human beings ‘as a sort of delegated work.’
2.Though we are many, yet we are one: ‘body issues’:
•Inter-connected: we are not self-sufficient, nor do we possess all of the gifts of the Spirit... as part of this, we have different gifts and different callings, while being united within those differences in Christ – so yes, ministers/pastors *are* different... just as is everyone who is called into their different role... and yet, simultaneously, not different – in that all are one in Christ.
•Calling: all are called, and some are called to be pastors – ‘for the teaching and perfecting of the saints, building up of the body, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, etc.’ [Eph. 4: 8, 10-16] Given our governance is Presbyterian, so overseen by elders, the minister is effectively a teaching elder, who is also charged with responsibility for the overseeing of public worship [which is not the same thing as necessarily having to do everything within an act of worship - some ministers hold 'the reigns' more tightly or loosely on this one!!!] Going down the 'teaching elder' terminology also gets rid of the potential to clericalism re. use of the word 'minister'....
3.Set apart/ sacramental?:
•While set apart for the specific role as minister to God’s people, the rite of ordination is not a sacrament – Calvin says it is very, very, close... in that God’s gifts are conferred upon the person being ordained via the laying on of hands... but it is not a sacrament in that it is not for the entire body, but specific individuals within the body. So all receive the gifts and benefits coming from baptism and Lord’s Supper... not all are called into ordained ministry of word and sac. and given those gifts and benefits pertaining to that particular office.
•The rite of ordination is the visible church affirming God’s calling, gifting and grace of and upon an individual, to lead God’s people – it officially affirms the call, if you like, by this outward ceremony. It’s the body of Christ stating that having tested the person’s call, that ‘we have found this person suitable’ to keep good order, be a minister in Christ’s church.
A book I've continued to find incredibly helpful for a Reformed understanding re. the role of a minister is Eugene Peterson's 'Under the Unpredictable Plant'...
Happy thinking!! :)